Friday, July 31, 2009

Okay, I know that authors, especially female authors in genre fiction, are supposed to be this supportive little cluster of hens who never say anything bad about each other because viewing other women as competition is wrong and we're above that and also we're really creative and creative people need to stick together because we're so misunderstood blah blah bullshit bullshit bullshit let's pretend like this isn't a business and we're a big sorority instead.

That's why I'm not going to name names here. I'm just going to give a little constructive criticism, okay? And it can be about whoever you want to make it about, or maybe you could just take it to heart, in case you start spouting off incredible bullshit one day.

If your first novel came out in the early nineties, you did not "pioneer" vampire fiction. You did not create the Urban Fantasy genre. Buffy did not steal anything from you. Twilight owes nothing to you.

You are still relevant. You are still special. You are still selling more books than anyone else in your genre.

You do not need to wave the banner of "I was first." Because you weren't. Vampire myths, even vampire fiction, was around a lot longer than your books. Unless you wrote that first vampire novel while in the Tardis visiting Queen Nefertiti, you didn't start the vampire trend.

A lot of people have been first. Marie Curie was the first person to discover radium. She died from radiation poisoning. Being first isn't always the best.

Buck up, buttercup. There are literally hundreds of us out here, our noses to the keyboards, trying to make a living with our writing. You did it. You succeeded. You're good enough. Stop with the ridiculous claims that no one is buying. You didn't pioneer the vampire genre anymore than Al Gore pioneered the fucking internet. Be happy with what you've done and the success you've got, and stop acting like your readers are fucking idiots who never heard of Anne Rice, especially when you've got a carbon-copy of her main character swishing around your books, okay?

Sunday, July 19, 2009

I tend to roll my eyes at celebrity death mourning. You don't know Farrah Fawcette, you don't know Betty White. You know what they did, who they pretended to be, and how much you enjoyed it. But Frank McCourt's death hits me like a truck. This isn't a celebrity who got famous being someone else. This is a man who shared his life-- no matter how controversially-- with the world and did it poetically, beautifully, and touched many people's hearts.

New Short Story

New Release

Need a Beta Reader?

There was an error in this gadget

Flattr this blog

IMPORTANT!

I love that my readers want to buy my books out of support/curiosity. Any books I have written will be under Jennifer Armintrout/Abigail Barnette/Jenny Trout. I have no other pen names, and books without those names on them were not written by me, even if the spelling is really, really close.

Heads up, Dear Reader

This is the official blog of Jenny Trout, writer, swearer, and all around obscene person. Under the name Jennifer Armintrout, I wrote USA Today Bestselling fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance. Under the pseudonym Abigail Barnette, I write award-winning romance and erotic romance, both historical and contemporary.

What you can expect to find here in 2013:

Chapter-by-chapter recaps of 50 Shades Freed

Updates on my free online erotic romance serial, The Boss

An in-depth re-watch of the entire series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The occasional post about cake

Lots of swearing

Comment policy

Say whatever you want, but if it's abusive, racist, misogynistic, or generally jerky, be prepared for other commenters to rip you apart. I am fully prepared to watch you guys eat each other. Spam comments will also be eaten, because I fucking love Spam.

Search This Blog

Follow this blog with your email, dear reader

Subscribe To

I'm mentally ill!

I suffer from depression, anxiety, OCD, OTD, and self-harm. Do you? Don't be embarrassed about it, okay? It's not your fault.

I find that when I'm down, I can stave off a total crash by listening to music. This is the music that helps me. Maybe it will help you, too. This is my "Get The @#$% Out Of Here, Depression!" playlist on Spotify.